


Requiem of the Dead (DISCONTINUED)

by kivrh



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: (Stay Tuned For More), All of that, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Niles And His Self-Destructive Tendencies, Niles being Niles, Slow Burn, Stargazing, Trauma, but hes also not sure of his age though so oopsnbwbhgh, hand-holding, niles and leo are both around 14-15 maybe but niles is a bit older by a couple of months
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 18:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16068659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kivrh/pseuds/kivrh
Summary: “Did you really think a lowly thief like you could attempt to steal from King Garon’s castle and get away alive? The foolishness of man never ceases to amuse me.”The voice was regal, taunting, but he could hear the annoyance laced in it. Not to mention the annoying holier-than-thou attitude all royal bastards have.Niles asks for his death and gets the complete opposite - something to live for.





	1. Stargazing (with a twist)

Niles liked to believe that he has no expectations for the world around him, and yet he is still let down.

These are the thoughts that float in his head listlessly as he watches his fucked up family escape over the dark castle walls, not sparing him even a glance. With them, they took a tiny shard of hope and love he didn’t even know he still had.

But he wasn’t surprised.

What he thought were tree branches wrapped around Niles’ limbs, and one had pierced his left leg, leaving it trembling and dripping life in the cold of the night. Distantly, he could hear the clunking of armor, the yelling of men, he could feel a javelin point (two, perhaps?) at his throat. 

And then they were gone, javelins, branches, and all, and he fell to the grass beneath him unceremoniously. Niles rolled onto his back, looking at the stars before a cold face appeared above him.

“Did you really think a lowly thief like you could attempt to steal from King Garon’s castle and get away alive? The foolishness of man never ceases to amuse me.”

The voice was regal, taunting, but he could hear the annoyance laced in it. Not to mention the annoying holier-than-thou attitude all royal bastards have. Niles’ allowed his eye to look at the royal and nearly choked on his spit. Despite the daunting words and the implications behind them, this child was dressed in a pristine white nightgown and slippers. Not to mention how ridiculously huge the tome in his hands was in comparison to the rest of his body. And the bedhead the boy sported!

But Niles saw the magic swirling in his hand from the book, and sighed.

“Kill me.”

“Surely, you understand the penalt- I. What?” The boy sputtered. Did he expect him to beg for his life?

It must’ve looked funny, this strange dirty thief-child laying on the ground looking at the stars and demanding his own death. He was so, so tired. The chilly night winds stung his face and the skin around his wounded leg. The stars were quite beautiful tonight, but he tore his gaze away to look at the stupefied royal.

“Please... Kill me.”

Whilst the prince stared at him with wide, bleary, tired, just-got-woken-up-before-the-sun-even-got-to-rise eyes, Niles took notice that the guards that had caught him were nowhere in sight. Somehow, he missed the boy sending them away.

He was tired.

And then, the prince spoke.

“Why?” It wasn’t gentle in the slightest. More out of morbid curiosity, if Niles had to guess.

What else did Niles have to lose?

“You know what happens in this kingdom, back in the alleyways. Starving children, filthy men, blood and tears and money and the like. I haven’t lived a life as pampered as yours. I have no reason to live. Those I considered my family, those thieves you saw climb over the walls, have abandoned me. So kill me.”

In all honesty, considering the boy looked to be around his age and grew up in that dreary castle, maybe he didn’t know what was happening in the kingdom. Sheltered royals. 

Or maybe he did, and made no attempts at stopping it. Either way, talking so much was beginning to get annoying. Niles eyed the huge tome cradled in the prince’s arm, before glancing back up at the prince again with a half-lidded eye.

The prince didn’t speak up, only staring at him.

“I’m tired of fighting,” Niles croaked. “Please, kill me.”

And then the prince laid down next to him in the grass, clinging to his tome and holding it against his chest.

“...What are you doing.”

“I knew you were an idiot, but not to this extent. What does it look like I’m doing?”

A period of silence followed before another gust of wind blew above them.

“You do realize I could kill you here, and escape, right?”

“Please. The guards took your bow and the unholy amount of daggers you had hidden on you, not to mention I’m armed myself. You can try,” he explained methodically. “Plus, you don’t want to live anyway. What reason do you have to kill me now?”

Niles hummed. It was strange that the world still had surprises to offer him this late into his life.

“Your amazing guards managed to miss the ones in my boots. But I guess you’re right.”

The prince only looked at the stars above him. Perhaps he was saving Niles for later.

Forcing the bile down his throat, he closed his eye. Of course. He’d play along.

“Be my retainer.”

Niles blinked. “Not to echo your own words, but are you an idiot?”

“Shut up and hear me out. Your life is hell, right? Maybe there’s something worth it in becoming my retainer. Food, water, a roof to sleep under…” You don’t really have a choice anyway, were the unspoken words. Niles could see right through him. “It’d be a waste of potential. You’re clearly skilled considering you managed to worm your way this deep into the castle grounds, anyway.”

He snorted. “Not skilled enough, apparently. I’m trapped here with a hole in my leg, aren’t I? Got caught by some guards and their snobby prince in a nightgown. Please, just kill me here. The food that would go to me could go to lives worth saving.”

The boy beside him wrinkled his nose, now looking at him right in the eye. “Starting tomorrow, you’ll be my retainer. Do you have any objections?”

It was really, really hard not to laugh. His leg was still shaking from the pain of having a tree branch impale it. (Speaking of which, he’d likely pass out in a few minutes if it wasn’t treated soon. Yikes.)

“Whatever you say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST MULTICHAPTER FIC... WAHOO


	2. Temporary Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moonlit walk to the guestroom.

To say the very least, this was unexpected.

After a few more minutes of stargazing in a strangely comfortable silence, the guards came to check on the two, failing to hide their surprise about Niles still being alive, let alone becoming the prince’s retainer of all things.

“Lord Leo, do you realize the King will-”

He raised his hand and the guards quickly shut up.

“I will handle this accordingly in the morning. Please, return to your stations.”

How mature sounding, for what looked like a twelve year old. The guards gave Niles one last glance before marching off to wherever they came from. They kind of looked like they were walking with a stick up their asses, being in all of that restrictive armor.

“You can stay in one of the guest rooms for tonight; I’ll show you to it. Come see me in the morning. And uh… What’s your name?”

Unclenching his fists and relaxing his face, Niles closed his eye and put on a gentle smile. At least he wouldn’t have to stay in the same room. The prince was oh so generously giving him time to get used to the place. “My name is Niles, milord.” It was like reading off a script of a play he had performed so many times before. On cue, he gave a small bow to his ‘liege.’ At the very least, this experience would get him more food and shelter from the storms that he was sure to come in the next coming days.

“Niles,” Leo repeated, as if practicing an uncommon foreign word.

“Well, come, I’ll bring you to your room.”

And so he followed.

 

* * *

 

The first thing he thought as the two weaved (well, he limped a bit pathetically, but that’s an issue he can deal with later) through endless hallways was that this damned castle was _huge_. And to what purpose? There couldn’t have been more than a hundred people living in the building, and the castle could fit ten times more than that. Hell, the entirety of the poor could live in here and there would STILL be room for more!

He was no stranger to winding tunnels and endless paths, but at the very least those sewer tunnels had distinctions to each way. A dead crow’s skeleton, the rat king in the corner that signified the location of a small hideaway he called ‘home’ for a while. Here, every single hallway looked the same, kept wiped down and pristine, no doubt by the flood of maids and butlers the royalty had wrapped around their thumbs.

As the little prince in front of him walked to the guest room, Niles couldn’t help to feel a seething bitterness coil in his stomach, a rat sleeping and festering in him.

“Milord, if I may ask… Why am I here? I’m sure you have maids and butlers better suited for a position such as this, well trained and ready to obey every command that slips out of your mouth.”

Leo ( _Lord_ Leo) paused, looking a bit unsure himself before steeling his face. “As I said, you have potential as an archer. Better to make use of you than let that potential go to waste, don’t you agree? You shouldn’t really have any complaints either, considering you’ll get to live in a castle.”

“Of course, milord. I was just curious.” There were many windows, all closed, but he could probably force them open for escape if need be.

Moonlight filtered through as clouds passed by, and they walked again. Niles was vaguely aware that he was probably dripping blood all over the god forsaken place, but Leo didn’t seem to notice considering the amount of light, so he moved his pant leg where it had been torn a bit higher to block some of the blood flow.

“We’re here.”

Before Niles had the chance to say a thing, Leo’s eyes went wide at the gaping wound in Niles’ thigh. “Oh _gods_ , I had forgotten about that! I’ll go fetch a maid, I-”

The boy’s words trailed off as he ran, nightgown billowing out behind him aside from the side where his tome was pressed.

He stumbled, maybe three times, the tome’s weight making it worse.

Niles snorted, opened the door with a bloodied glove, and stared.

Pristine white bedding, a deep mahogany frame, an end table of the same material by its side, clean, polished floors. A velvet stool sat in front of a desk in the opposing corner. This was a _guest_ room?

The thief cautiously took a few steps into the room, looking around with a wide eye.

This was the room he would be sleeping in. With his own bed. No one else.

Suddenly, he felt so much more _filthier_ than he already did.

_Just for tonight_ , he thought, _I’ll enjoy this_ _._

Just tonight.

So he fell onto the bed, dizzy from fatigue that washed over him like a gentle wave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapters a bit shorter than the last but rest assured funky worms.... next chapters comin up really soon because im a dumbass with time to kill and thoughts to write


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